Underdogs
by WonderfulWonderful
Summary: Three Underdogs, Three Girls. Sarah, Hana and Monica were friends. They had different opinions and different tastes but the kind of guy they found themselves with was always the same: An Underdog.
1. Sarah

They all waited for the end. It was on its way no doubt, just waiting in the shadows ready to leap up like predator and tear their lives away. It was what they were all thinking about, deep inside of them even if they said otherwise. Sarah watched Neville pace the Room of Requirement over and over always thinking, planning, being something that most people wouldn't have expected: A leader. She pulled off her shoes still watching him with her dark brown and sunken eyes and began settling back in her hammock. It felt like endless years of waiting in the room, sleeping in the hammocks, getting food from old Aberforth down at the Hog's head, all whilst playing small pranks, rescuing students and jinxing anyone that had anything to do with the Carrows. But in their efforts they only wanted one thing: To see Harry again, but they all knew that the second Harry turned up it would be the end. The now or never moment where people professed their undying love, jinxed and cursed to defend whether they were the coward or not and finally chose their side of the battle ground.

As Sarah drifted to sleep, eyes lazily fluttering, vision becoming blurry, she thought about how different things were when she was in her first year, when they were all in there in their first years…

"_Did you remember your tooth brush?" Sarah's mum, Ava, asked her, hands caringly cupping the young girl's face._

"_Yes" Sarah sighed with a nervous smile._

_Ava wiped away a spot of water from the girl's lips and hugged her tight. Sarah embraced her mother's warmth. She nuzzled into her neck and clung onto the distinct smell of peppermint and green tea tied together with the oh-so wonderful smell of washing up liquid. It was home and it was the last dose she would probably get before the end of the school year. Ava pulled back and stroked the young girl's face one last time before finally letting her go._

"_I'll get your things to luggage carriage, ok?" Ava said_

_Sarah nodded and began clambering onto the gleaming red train in her pink and grey striped jumper and raggedy jeans, a backpack full of her robes swinging off her shoulder and her tabby cat Bonnie curled up in her arms. She curiously wandered the tight carriage hall looking for a budding hope of Hogwarts students to take her in. Sarah originally tried to find her friend Hana, but after no luck she guessed the girl was just late. She eventually managed to find a decent enough compartment. There were no students to try and make friends with but there was certainly no chance she'd be rejected by the empty space. She hopped up to her seat—she was rather tiny—and silently sat. She took the time to observe the space around her. The empty racks above her ready to hold any cases, the chequered pattern that covered all the seats, the ribbon loop that stuck out from the pattern. Sarah tugged at the loop curiously to reveal an arm rest._

"_Is, is it okay if I sit here?"_

_Sarah spun round from her compartment exploration to see a chubby boy with a round, freckled face and short black hair in a woolly patterned jumper and jeans. His hands nervously clutched onto a dark green and slimy looking toad._

"_Sure" She quietly nodded._

_The boy sat in the seat by the window, doing his best not to make eye contact. After sometime Sarah finally managed to make an introduction, "My name's Sarah"_

_He looked up surprised and grateful too, "Ne-Neville. My name's Neville and this is Trevor."_

"_This is my cat Bonnie" She added_

Sarah jolted awake. The Room of Requirement was dark and people were busy snoozing. How long had she been sleeping for? She found her cat Bonnie curled up by one of the windows on a stray pillow, her greyish brown fur still smooth as ever. Sarah stroked the aging cat that grumpily opened her eyes to see her owner. If Bonnie could talk she would definitely being moaning for her to leave her alone. Sarah continued to lovingly stroke her pet anyway and Bonnie eventually gave in; she loved to be pampered. Sarah scooped up the tabby cat and carried her over to her Hammock and let her snuggle back down on the pillow there. Normally she didn't like to sleep on cat fur but just this once it was ok. She watched as the tabby yawned and eventually dozed back off. After that she wandered over to the fireplace- the fire burnt out- and grabbed a couple pieces of log and coals from the endless piles the room so generously provided. _You could at least give us food too._ Sarah thought to herself as she cast Incendio at the fireplace. The logs and coal burst with flames. They crackled and smouldered with approval.

"I see you're up" Sarah turned around to see none other than Neville. He sat down beside her in his knitted cardigan and jeans with a sad smile on his lips.

"Do you ever sleep?" She asked

He shook his head shamefully, "I'm just waiting for the day you know."

"You should really get some sleep. You'll make yourself ill and we don't need an ill leader."

"I'm standing aren't I?"

"Well sitting would be more accurate" She said with a smile tugging at her lips but it faded, "Do you ever think things will be back to normal?"

Neville paused for thought, "No. There are two ways this could all end which is we die or Voldemort does. I just hope we get the latter"

"Your wrong there's three."

He raised a curious eyebrow.

"Voldemort and Harry make amends and have a tea party together"

Neville snorted and Sarah couldn't hold back the laughter either. The sheer thought of Voldemort and Harry as two perfectly dignified women frolicking around in pink puffy dresses, feather boas choking their necks, oversized hats that brimmed with feathers on their heads and serving tea with sandwich bites was too much for the childish pair.

"Shh" She said holding back a giggle, "We shouldn't wake them"

The two of them stared back over their small rebellion of students all probably dreaming of home and nicer things, anything to get their minds away from the potential horror that lay ahead. Sarah herself had become prone to dreaming of old memories or of a future that remained forever impossible even with magic at her fingertips.

"It's good to know you still have a sense of humour" He whispered with a friendly nudge, "Some have started giving up hope. Lauren's losing hope every day, she even said she might join the Carrows before it gets too bad"

"It's hard on all of us. Not many of us have much of a family or friends left."

Sarah's eyes flickered over at Seamus who snored into his pillow, memories of him and Dean flooding her mind. Dean had been on the run since pretty much the start of the year, his blood line not pure enough for the likes of Voldemort's followers. Sarah herself barely just managed, her own blood "corrupted", as the Carrows would say, with the likes of a Muggle.

"Have you heard from Monica at all?" He asked

"No" She sadly shook her head, "She's been running like Dean for a long time. You know I've had enough of this discrimination, of this persecution. Why can't we just have our puffy dresses and tea and sandwich bites and enjoy sharing the odd gossip instead of caring about who's got what blood?"

"Shh" Neville said wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close into his warm cardigan, "The world is unfair, remember that. I think maybe you could do with a bit more sleep."

"That's rich coming from you" Sarah replied quietly

"Here's a deal. I sleep and so do you. Deal?"

Sarah sighed, "Deal"


	2. Monica

The light around her was dimming. Darkness crept in at every corner of the forest clearing until all that was left was a small ring of light shining out from the small log fire. The fiery light lit up their three faces as they desperately tried to hold unto the heat.

Monica's emerald green eyes flickered with reflected flames as she stared intently into the fire. The flames, as they crackled and danced, brought her comfort. When there was light, there was hope. Every so often she'd hear an owl hoot or a fox dash and she'd nervously glance around. She'd check every angle, every face. But every time there was nothing to worry about. Their enchantments were strong enough. Monica sighed and stared at her fellow travellers. She watched how Liana jammed her eyelids shut and began to rapidly whisper something to herself. A prayer most likely. Rick on the other hand was busy snatching at the flames with his long and slender hands, a bored expression on his face. He was quick enough to not be burnt.

This was their lives now.

Monica got up from her place by the fire, grabbed the scratchy sleeping roll from her rucksack and laid it out on the hard forest floor.

"I'm turning in" She sighed

"I'll take first watch" Rick said as he pulled his wand out of his jean pocket. He twiddled it between his thumbs and stared at it. Something so simple and small had him running. It represented everything he had lost, but also everything he was fighting for. Monica watched him sadly as she shrugged off her hoodie and began to lie down. His eyes were dark and tired, his lips were almost pulled apart and his skin was sickly pale. He wasn't the same anymore. She remembered him at Hogwarts, a boy just a year above with spiked brown hair and a wicked smile. That boy didn't exist anymore.

Liana huffed and got up. She began to very slowly lay out her own roll.

Monica rolled onto her side. Her coarse curls scratched against her face. She sighed deeply. She needed a wash. A proper wash. Not the kind she managed in a small stream, river or lake every 2 weeks. She hadn't been clean since the day she left home, the day she told her family to go far away, out of the country and to a place where they couldn't be reached. She hoped at every moment that they were safe.

Monica stared at her curls with an empty expression. The red dye was long since dead. Her hair was returning back to a horrid brown that never suited her. Everything that ever made her 'her' was long since gone. She shut her eyes and slowly slipped away and dreamt that when she woke up she'd be lying in her four poster bed at Hogwarts where she belonged.

But dreams were never worth dwelling on.

"Get her up" A voice spoke gruffly. The voice sounded familiar. Monica stirred. She cracked open an eyelid, the forest clearing still well lit by the crackling fire in the centre. 2 shadows danced around her and then one reached out and clutched her by her collar and hauled her to her feet.

She expected to see snatchers all around. Waving their wands and looking at her manically, but the sight that met her made her stomach turn.

Liana held her wand directly at her with a frantic look. Her blonde, unwashed hair fell in wisps around her contorted and desperate face.

"Liana, please" Monica said

"Shut up!" Liana cried.

Monica felt Rick's long fingers clutched tightly onto her collar.

"Sorry" He breathed into her neck.

"Sorry?" She bit back, "You betray me and you have the nerve to say sorry?"

Monica stared directly back at Liana. Liana looked close to tears.

"We have to" She struggled to say, "We're losing supplies. We can't afford—"

"Can't afford to what? Keep me? Am I pet? No. I am human. I am your friend, your ally! And this is how you treat me?"

"Just do it Liana" Rick instructed.

Monica kicked and struggled as she tried to worm her way out of Rick's grip, but he always had a tight, strong grip. Was this it? The moment when she dropped dead to floor? And for what? For being an ally? Monica jammed her eyes shut and took a moment to think. There had to be something. She tried to reach into her pocket for her wand, but Rick caught her out.

"Just accept it" He said with a caring voice. Did he really think that this was what she needed? He snatched the wand out of her pocket and took it as his own. Monica groaned.

Returning to her mind palace of ideas in the brief amount of time she had before Liana finally fired, she filtered through every strategy known to her wizard self. She sighed. She needed her wand.

_Think Muggle thoughts _she finally thought to herself.

She sighed. Took a deep breath. And with one swift and unexpected kick, aimed straight between Rick's legs.

He groaned and keeled over.

Monica quickly snatched back her wand and cried, "EXPELLIARMUS!"

The wand shot straight out of Liana's hand who stared at the curly haired brunette in fearful horror. This was not how they'd planned it. She'd prayed and begged and hoped, but God didn't hear her that evening.

Monica reached out and grabbed Rick's wand as he huddled over in pain. She held both wand ends tightly and snapped. The wand let out a small hiss as though it had taken it's dying breathe. She chucked the two pieces at the boy with a look of distaste. Then she moved onto Liana. She stared at the girl with a look of pity.

"Please" Liana said

"Please what?" Monica replied, "You think I'm going to kill you? "

Liana whimpered.

Monica rolled her eyes, reached down and grabbed the girl's wand from the forest floor. Rightfully the thing was hers. She'd won it. She stared at her own wand. Cherry wood, 10 ¼", unyielding, phoenix feather core. The wand in front of her was all she needed. She pressed Liana's wand into the girl's palm.

"I'm not going to kill you" She whispered coldly, "Because I don't murder allies."

Monica walked back over to her sleeping roll. She bundled it up and stuffed it in her rucksack. Next she pulled back on her hoodie. Then she grabbed a handful of supplies, shoved them in her rucksack next to the sleeping roll and swung the rucksack over her shoulders. She looked at the pair with distaste and began her trek as a lone Muggle born.

"Lumos" She whispered. Comforting light sprung from the tip of her wand as she trudged her way through the pitch black. The trees loomed like giants around her. The camp fire light grew dimmer the further she walked. She shook her head and sighed as she reminded herself of everything that had just happened. It was desperation at its finest.

As she sensed the last slither of campfire light behind her, she heard a single scream. She whipped her head round and slowly began to creep her way closer. The campfire light danced with shadows, but this time there was more than 2. Though she willed her feet to creep closer, to quench her curiosity, she had to convince herself otherwise. She knew what laid beyond the many layers of foliage.

Snatchers.

Their timing was masterful.

"Monica!" A voice cried

It was Liana

"Monica, please! Help!"

Monica gritted her teeth. The nerve.

Liana's screaming voice echoed through the woods. Monica took that as her cue to dash. She sprinted from her spot and dodged her way through an entire obstacle course of trees, her lit wand managing to guide her through her great flight.

It wasn't long before she heard footsteps not far behind her. It was like a medieval hunt. She was the stag that no matter how far it ran would inevitably be caught if it didn't come up with something clever.

It was a split second decision. A small spark of genius.

She shut her eyes, the heavy footsteps against the forest floor getting ever closer. She thought of a place from her childhood. It was the first place to pop into her head. She had to try. She pictured it perfectly in her head and sure enough she felt the surging feeling throughout her entire body as she was ripped from the forest floor and thrown onto the soft sands by Durdle Door.

**WOW I must say it has been a while and I really do have to apologise for that. Over about the last 3 weeks I have been doing my exams (1 more week to go!) and before those three weeks I have been revising and perfecting course work so it has been stressful. I really hope you like the chapter. I'd like to give a big thank you to those who have reviewed, followed, favourite and even just viewed. I hope to update sooner this time (I really shouldn't have started publishing when I knew I had tons of exam stuff to do now I look at it, but oh well). Until next time :)**


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